2014 is going to be a very, very different year for the UFC.
For the first time in over half a decade, the promotion no longer has pound-for-pound greats Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva leading the way. St-Pierre, of course, recently vacated the UFC Welterweight Championship, and is taking an extended leave of absence, while Silva broke his leg against Chris Weidman’s kneecap at UFC 168, and, while doctors say he could return by the end of 2014, there is the very real possibility that he never fights again.
In addition to losing its two biggest PPV draws, the UFC has also lost a number of other stars for the foreseeable future. UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez will be out for the majority of the year following shoulder surgery. UFC Lightweight Champion Anthony Pettis will miss the majority of the year with a knee injury. And former UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz, who was due to headline UFC 169 next month — in his first fight in over two years — recently had to vacate the title because of a groin injury. In addition, UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones is still dealing with a nagging foot injury suffered in his UFC 165 war against Alexander Gustafsson, and because of this, his next title defence against Glover Teixeira still hasn’t been officially announced. And let’s not forget that fan favorite/villain Nick Diaz is still in a quasi-retirement.
Guys like Velasquez, Pettis, and Cruz were supposed to replace guys like St-Pierre and Silva as consistent pay-per-view draws in 2014, but unless they have miraculous recoveries, that’s not likely to happen, and it makes me wonder just who is going to headline these UFC PPV events this year.
Thank the MMA Gods that Zuffa decided to smell the coffee and bring in the women last year. UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey is a superstar, and will likely be the company’s biggest draw in 2014, while the addition of the strawweight class will help as well, as there’s sure to be a star or two created from the class of 115-pounders coming into the UFC – well, the UFC is certainly hoping that’s the case, anyways.
In addition, MMA legend BJ Penn will be making his long-awaited return to the Octagon as a featherweight after he coaches against Frankie Edgar on TUF 19, with a fight scheduled for the summer, and it’s possible that Diaz, or maybe even Brock Lesnar, could be lured back for a big-money fight. Also, Vitor Belfort could emerge as the sport’s biggest star should he defeat Chris Weidman and win the UFC middleweight title. So not all is bad in the land of Zuffa.
But other than that, 2014 will be a year of transition for the UFC, as they try to groom rising stars like Weidman, Demetrious Johnson, Renan Barao, and Johny Hendricks into superstars in the sport, and try to market them for PPV. Will the fans respond as desired? It’s not clear if they will yet, as even though all of these fighters are absolute studs in the cage, it’s not yet known whether they can pull in big PPV numbers against lesser names, the same way Silva still pulled in respectable numbers when he was fighting Thales Leites, and when GSP pulled in big numbers fighting Jake Shields.
This is going to be a very different year for the UFC, and for its fans as well, and it remains to be seen if it’s going to be successful, or if this is going to be the year the minds behind the UFC are forced to reconsider their long-time PPV model. If I had to guess, PPV numbers will dwindle in 2014, and the UFC will be forced to take a long, hard look at its current model. Or perhaps they’ll try to lure Roy Jones Jr. over and promote the first boxing match in Zuffa history.
Regardless, it’s going to be a year of change for the UFC and its fans in 2014, and it’s going to be very interesting to see what, if any, response Zuffa has to losing its two top draws. My guess is there will be none, that this year will be a struggle, and the critics will come out in droves with pitchforks. But we’ll have the next 12 months to find out for sure.
